With a three year track record, is a SolarCity bond a worthwhile investment?

Since 2014, SolarCity has offered bonds once a year to continue financing their operations and projects. This allows individual investors (i.e., you) to invest in this environmentally-friendly company and reap the financial benefits of bond ownership. But are SolarCity bonds a smart investment? In short, a SolarCity bond could be – if purchased wisely.

Below, we look at what bonds are, why SolarCity offers them, and whether you should purchase their bonds or not.

Interested in investing in solar energy stocks but you don’t if it’s a wise move?

How could an industry that is built on saving millions of homeowners thousands of dollars each not be a smart, successful investment?* While this statement is certainly true, as of fall 2016 stock prices for solar financing and installation companies are currently trading in the single digits. What is going on?

* Note that we are not financial advisors and this post is for entertainment purposes only!

The Solar Industry is Big Business that’s Growing Fast

Over the last 10 years, the solar industry has seen a veritable explosion, with year-over-year growth around 60% (compared to the average utility’s 13.4% annually increase in revenue from 2010-2015). Large national solar companies that offer power purchase agreements (PPAs) and leases have been able to secure huge financing deals to cover these agreements, in which the solar companies recoup their initial investments in small monthly increments over the course of customers’ 20 year agreement.

In addition, the average price of solar panels has decreased a whopping 70% in that same time, further reducing total installation costs, leading to more and more homeowners making the decision to install solar.Continue reading

With $3 billion in foreign investments rolling in, southern Egypt is poised to become a solar powerhouse.

A total of 39 solar power plants are either planned or currently under construction in the Benban area north of Aswan, on the west bank of the Nile. Almost 9 thousand acres of that area will be dedicated to power production.

Anyone who works in the solar biz will attest to the fact that we humans are pretty good at procrastinating. But some of the reasons that people give to put off going solar are based on an incorrect assumption.

Here are the top 4 common mistakes in understanding solar, and why these errors should not hinder you from enjoying clean solar energy.

For every gigawatt of solar power installed, 80 metric tons of silver is required

Silver has long been viewed as an investment in its own right as an inflation hedge.It is also widely used in the manufacture of semiconductors, batteries, various nanotechnology applications, jewelery, photography, and in making solar photovoltaic cells.

What nonsense. This is, as my Great Aunt Ro would put it, “simply arrant drivel.”

Let’s go through the process. Look around you. Everything you see is manufactured somewhere. All manufacturing takes energy.

All manufactured things that are used to make energy, take energy to make. Even what’s needed to burn coal takes energy:

The massive turbines that use the steam by boiling water by burning coal, and turn that into electricity take energy to make. Like all manufactured objects, solar panels are manufactured. Do they take more energy?

Sustainable stocks up 166.6%, fossil fuel stocks down 36.23%

LJ Furman, MBA, who writes about economics and policy at Popular Logistics, has done a comparison of stock market gains and losses comparing the top fossil energy companies stock prices, with the stock prices of near-random group of sustainable companies over the last three years till December 2015.